By: Andre Malo
Sean Rad the founder of popular dating app Tinder is demanding a staggering $2 billion in a lawsuit against Diller’s company IAC, alleging he was duped about Tinder’s true market value when he sold his stake. This battle will kick off shortly in NY Supreme Court.
NY Post reported: Rand vowed to “destroy” the executive who succeeded him as CEO as they feuded over the hookup app’s sale to Barry Diller’s media empire, court papers show.
He deleted a series of emails on his company account amid a feud with his successor, Greg Blatt, over the valuation of Tinder, according to legal documents.
Tinder founders, including Sean Rad, three years ago sued IAC Corp and its online dating unit Match Group, alleging that the two companies controlled by the media mogul had cheated the entrepreneurs out of billions of dollars in a 2017 share acquisition that valued the Tinder business at $3bn. They are seeking more than $2bn in damages, FT summarized.
Rad has accused Match and IAC of intentionally lowballing that valuation just as Tinder’s popularity was exploding
NY Post reported: In an April 2017 text exchange between Rad and Shiva Kumar, who was an investment banker at Jefferies working as Rad’s financial adviser, Kumar wrote, “Sean — just confirming that you are going to delete all your work emails. Assume this is your personal phone.” “Yes,” replied Rad. “And yes.”
“We’re at war,” wrote Rad. “We’ll destroy him. This is going to be the biggest lesson of his life.”
“In order to gut the Agreements and seize control of the valuation, Defendants installed their own executives at the highest levels of Tinder management. he reason for these management changes was clearly to allow defendants to control the valuation of Tinder and deprive Tinder option holders of their right to participate in the company’s future success,” Rad wrote in his complaint.
Will these emails reveal something hidden in this case? IS it a legit case or a personal vendetta?
They’re facing off in a New York state Supreme Court jury trial, with opening arguments set to kick off on Nov. 8. Diller, Rad and Blatt are all expected to testify in an online trial likely to last for several weeks.
Tinder is the most popular interactive dating app in the world.
Diller was the Chairman of Expedia and the Chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, an interactive commerce conglomerate and the parent of companies including HomeAdvisor, Match Group (until 2020), City search, and Connected Ventures, home of Vimeo and College Humor (until 2020). IAC/InterActiveCorp is also the parent company of Tinder, Urban Spoon, The Daily Beast, and more.
In 2005, IAC/InterActiveCorp acquired Ask.com, marking a strategic move into the Internet search category. He stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp on December 2, 2010, Wikipedia summarized.
